Epoxy coating, drying and finishing

Got all the guides wrapped up. No fancy spiral guides, just  normal straight line guide placement.

I started with a thin coat of epoxy before put it to a rod turner or dryer for another coat of epoxy.

And the last coat of epoxy.

There.... done with the epoxy.

The graphite butt section was wrapped with rattan as it looks odd.

This was before.

...................and AFTER..

and I am done with this one.

My 1st bamboo casting rod....

Tops and guides

After having the grip and reel seat fixed, just to see the guide placement I put up all the guides with masking tape.
I am using Fuji Halide guides for economical reason.

Then I did a trial wrap with Gudebrod nylon threads - Med Brown color. I don't plan to use any color preserver on the thread as I wanted it to be darker.

 

Well, the thread color looks matched bamboo rod and it should look nicer when darken.

And this is how it looks like with a light coat of epoxy.

Fixing up the reel seat and split handle cork grip

I managed to lath the fore and rear grip in the evening after I got home from work. Got it epoxied on the rod.
At first, I wanted to do a round fore grip just like the Megabass Pagani bamboo casting rod, but it's kinda difficult to get a perfectly round shape and furthermore, it was just too time consuming.

Guessed I just have to go with the common shape fore grip.

 

Bamboo BC rod trigger reel seat..

As expected, Mudhole never disappoint me. The reel seat arrived at my door step today.

I have to add a graphite sleeves to extend the bamboo rod for the butt section. It look something like this.

Completed my bamboo baitcasting rod blank..

A quick update..

Finished the bamboo blank last week. Binded and glued.
I skipped the final heat treatment process on the planned strips as I figured that I have done 3 heat treatment process on the rough bamboo strips was sufficient...
So, I applied a few coat of finishes on the blank...

I WAS WRONG... dead wrong!!!

I found out that the final heat treatment cannot be skip.. The glued bamboo blank was not flexing and it stay in shape after I bent it. DAMN!!!  Basically, I bend the tip and it stay bend...!!

I had to remove the finishing coat with steel wool and redo the heat treatment on the blank. I had to be very careful not to over do this as I do not want the glue to be debonded due too extreme high temperature..

After a several heat treatment process.. the bamboo blank seems to be stiffer and more reactive to the flexing. Finally I can finish off the bamboo blank with a few coats of Gorilla glue..

Just placed orders for the hardwares... Hope to see those at my door steps by next week.

BC Boo - Planing time

I realized that the overall length of my leftover bamboo strips was less than 6'-0" and I had to modified the bait casting rod tapers which I got over the internet. I have the make adjustment and reduce the depth of the planing form.

It's all part of the plan....

I sharpen the plan and readjusted the plane shoe for minimum cutting. I don't want too many glue line when I put the strips together.

After planing all the 6 pieces of bamboo strips.. yes, I did not have any spares this time. I bind it up to check on the thickness and checked for gaps before I removed it for glueing..

 

It looks okay now.. I hope it will be OKAY after glueing it up...

Not another bamboo fly rod....

Since I am into building bait casting rods now... how about making myself a bamboo bait casting rod???
I read up some info on bamboo bait casting rods in the internet and not many people have attempt making bamboo bait casting rods or rather not having their work documented in the internet.

Surprisingly, when I googled "bamboo baitcasting rod", there are a few bamboo rod makers who sell bamboo bait casting rod. Modern bamboo rod makers like Ron Kusse was in front of the list, there was a few advertisement for selling vintage bamboo bait casting rods, a few taper for bait casting rods and that was about all I found..

To start with, it took awhile for me to search for a few decent looking bamboo strips which I tucked in one corner of my porch. The most time consuming part was actually straightening the bamboo strips.. and there was a reason why these bamboo strips was tucked a side.

Anyway, my ventures of the bamboo bait casting rod begins...

Skipping the most boring part and straight away to the beveller..

Completed my rough bamboo strip for planing.